Garcia: ‘Think Campos is the right guy for the job? Perhaps you should think again’

Considering Andre Campos couldn’t be bothered to reply to inmaricopa.com’s own candidate questionnaire, I am surprised how this article (see related story) allows Campos to easily dismiss fact-based allegations regarding his personal business and would go further to expound upon his platform.

Wasn’t Campos’s opportunity to talk about his platform given when inmaricopa.com asked him to respond to a recent candidate questionnaire? Wasn’t it a slap in your face, inmaricopa.com, when Campos chose not to even respond?

Isn’t it time someone address Campos’s claim he wasn’t involved in the adult entertainment industry. The fact is he purposefully split his marketing business in two and named one Spanky Entertainment, LLC. Campos states he did so in order to better market toward bars and clubs.

Which bars and clubs? How about a strip club – yes, a club where women stripped off their clothes and danced for money – called The Great Alaska Bush Company (see AZ Republic – Candidate may have to bare it all)? Campos actually told a Republic reporter that he didn’t work for the adult nightclub, but that his company caters to adult bars and restaurants and has done some work for the Bush Company.

Let’s get this straight. Campos was paid by a strip club to work for them. Campos owns the title to the “Miss Topless Great Alaskan Bush Company Pageant.” Campos stated his company caters to adult bars and restaurants.

Let’s peel the onion back a bit further on Campos and the adult sex entertainment industry. When Campos was running for Phoenix City Council in 2005, Campos was endorsed by Club Chameleon. What type of bar or club was Club Chameleon? It was a swingers’ club where people went to engage in public and adulterous group sex (See AZ Republic – Candidate expecting swing votes).

Not only was he endorsed by Club Chameleon, he was going to attend a “meet and greet” hosted by the swingers’ club. Club Chameleon was eventually shut down by the City of Phoenix and the owners faced charges, prison and fines for (please read this carefully) operating a business which broke the law.

So let’s add up the facts: Campos split his marketing business in two and named one Spanky Entertainment just so he could “cater” to adult entertainment bars and clubs; Campos worked for “The Great Alaskan Bush Company;” Campos owns title to the “Miss Topless Great Alaskan Bush Company Pageant;” Campos was endorsed by Club Chameleon – an illegal business, and Campos was going to attend a “meet and greet” held by swingers and Club Chameleon.

If that isn’t working with and being in and around the adult sex industry, I’m not sure what is.

When it comes down to it, this is about family values in rural Arizona The question is whose interests will Campos represent and can he represent the family values of residents in and around Maricopa and Pinal County? Campos admits and aggressively defends his right to do business with the adult sex entertainment industry as well as his endorsement by a swingers’ club.

Don’t believe it? Ask for a transcript of the candidate forum held at Central Arizona College in Coolidge on October 14 or a transcript of the candidate forum held by the Superior Chamber of Commerce in Superior on October 20. At these forums Campos proudly defends his business endeavors and his past endorsement.

Please read Casa Grande Dispatch’s article Western Pinal County Candidates Forum,
which covers the forum held on the 14th. The reporter writes: “Campos responded (to allegations) that, as a conservative, he was in business to make money and was merely representing a client and ‘the reason I got their endorsement (Club Chameleon) is because they’re adults engaging in otherwise legal activities. … I will market and print for any legal business.'”

Don’t all business owners have a choice in who they conduct their business with? Campos says he has and will continue to conduct business with anyone simply because he has to pay the bills and has to make money. Doesn’t that statement seem to be opportunistic at the risk of values and ethics, especially for someone running for public office? How will he act when faced with opportunities to work with political special interest groups? Will it be your best interest he represents and fights for or his?

Take a moment and imagine sitting in front of an audience at a forum held by the local Chamber of Commerce and defending swingers’ clubs as legal businesses. Can you do it? That’s exactly what Campos did in Superior.

Isn’t it hard to imagine anyone, Republican, Democrat, Independent, or any one with good family values and morals that would say adults and married couples who went to swinger clubs to have public, adulterous, group sex are engaging in legal, good family value-centered activities? Campos doesn’t just imagine it; he actually does it. He thinks laws banning such establishments and activities shouldn’t exist. Doesn’t the party he belongs to claim to embody family values? As someone running for office, wouldn’t it be his responsibility if elected to uphold the law, not to interpret or discredit it when it suits him?

Perhaps Campos thinks if strip clubs and swinger clubs started popping up in and around rural Arizona it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Heck, I’m sure he thinks that someone just needs to make money. Perhaps they just need to burn a few well-earned dollars at a strip club or go have a good old-fashioned fun time at a swingers’ club.

So again, the question is: How can Campos’ represent the family values of residents in and around Maricopa and Pinal County while being opportunistic at the risk of values and ethics? Simply put, he can’t. It’s time Campos stopped defending himself and just admit to being wrong.

David Garcia

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